Sports Unlimited: Professional Daredevils

By Jasmine Perez, Multimedia Producer, Sports Unlimited

Sports Unlimited featured different world-class daredevils on land, in the air, and in water. Meet Rhys Millen, Julien Dupont, Team Red Bull Air Force and Orlando Duque.

Rhys Millen

The streets of Manila got a mega dose of extreme surprises on wheels--from screeching tires on the asphalt to motorbikes flying over jeepneys. Red Bull's roster of superior athletes was an awesome display of man and machine in extreme motion.

Rhys "The Mad Skills" Millen made the opening salvo for Red Bull's Action Attack on the Philippines. The veteran driver who has over 20 years of racing experience under his helmet, took to the streets of Manila, particularly Roxas Boulevard, where he drove around jeepneys and skidded round and round amidst a flurry of smoke.

It was an awesome display of drifting action with Millen maneuvering his vehicle with clinical precision. Millen hails from New Zealand but is now based in Huntington Beach, California. The son of the famed rally and off-road racer Rod Millen, this young prodigy has risen to become the most sought-after performance driver in the US today. In fact, he is the man behind the drifting stunts in the Fast and The Furious movies.

Julien Dupont

French trial biker Julien Dupont has also made the streets of Manila his playground. His shot to daredevil fame started when he made the world's first back flip on wheels over an artificial trailer. Now, he is known for pushing his motorbike over harder challenges which includes scaling bridges, walls, cliffs and whatever his wheels can roll on.

The 29-year-old Frenchman started his affair with motorbikes at only six months of age, when his father rode a motorcycle with him on his back in a rucksack.

He confesses to preferring the school of hard knocks rather than the classroom and as a young phenomenon, he joined trial competitions at the European and World championships until boredom set in.

Dupont found work as a cleaner and did janitorial work until his girlfriend tried to knock some sense into him and told him to get back on track. But instead of going for a better-paying office job, the young Dupont instead chose to ride his bike and tried to make impossible stunts possible, scaling heights never reached before by anyone on two wheels.

Not even a couple of injuries could put down his love for riding. What took other riders weeks to perfect, it would more often than not just take him three days, or even a mere three tries.

In Manila, Pinoys lapped up Dupont's stunts as he rode on top of jeepneys and whirled around busy markets.

Miles away from a life of cleaning windows and mopping floors, Dupont is living the life he had been destined to have, riding around the world on two wheels.
Team Red Bull Air Force

Team Red Bull Air Force is composed of some of the world's best aerial athletes. They are skydivers and base jumpers who have brought human flight to another level. Here in the Philippines, they made history by making the first wing suit jump over our skies.

These athletes did the famous aerial stunt in the blockbuster hit Transformers. This time, they invaded Boracay's air space to the surprise and delight of locals and tourists. After all, it's not everyday that you see people falling from the sky.

The team boarded a chartered plane from Subic, then flew south to the country's beach party capital Boracay island. Inside the plane, they talked about their planned maneuvers for the last time before jumping off.

The view from their vantage point was simply breathtaking. Visible were the islands below, with white sand beckoning them to make their graceful landing. As they approached Boracay, they released their chutes and landed on its world famous white sand.

Duque, who hails from Colombia, joins Red Bull's roster of the extreme sports world champions. This man rules over from the comfort of his cliff throne, with nine world championship titles under his belt. He leaped into the Guinness Book of World Records by scoring a perfect ten during the 2000 World Cliff Diving Championships.